Fix You
by chromate
Summary: Upon seeing her boyfriend kissing another girl, she broke down and ran off. With him losing concentration on his sports and her losing her usual calmness, will they compromise or will they become complete strangers? SarahXAsou


This is my first fanfic since I don't even remember when. It's been a hard time dealing with college stuff and summer job. This fic was written mostly in August and partly just three days ago. Seeing not many people have written a Sarah-related fanfic in here shocks me a bit. I have an affection for this character and I hope there will be more people working on fanfic where she plays a main role.

The title is taken from Coldplay's song. I came across School Rumble again someday during summer while playing this song and I got the idea of writing another fanfic again. Hope you'll enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own School Rumble.

* * *

'You didn't...'

'Yes I did.'

Yakumo was at loss of words, and so were Haruna, Miki and Satsuki in the Tea Club room. In front of them, Sarah Adiemus hiccoughed, sniffed, and smiled a bright one. It had been a relatively peaceful semester for them so far since September, the beginning of school term, and the news came as quite a shock to them.

'But...but why?' Satsuki managed to ask, although she knew in some way she was not the perfect candidate to be asking her questions in this aspect. The Brit remained silent in attempt to keep herself still. 'Was it you who suggested it?' Having known her for long, Sarah knew Haruna was never the one to ask ambiguous questions. The others looked at her curiously while Yakumo, her best friend, held her hand firmly to give her the spiritual support that she needed the most right now.

She smiled a little at that, finding it irony given her role in church. Oh well, like she gave a damn now.

'Yes.'

The blonde could feel Yakumo squeezing her harder, looking at her with a sad expression. 'It's not a big deal, com'on you girls,' she tried to enlighten the atmosphere in the room. Being in the center of such attention was not really something she enthusiastically enjoyed.

No more words needed to be exchanged. After spending a year together, they knew every well how action spoke louder. 'Sarah...' Yakumo mumbled and pulled her into her arms, caressing her back gently. Haruna walked behind her and embraced her from behind with both her arms. Miki and Satsuiki held her free hand and arm, their eyes telling her that 'it's okay not to hide from us. Tell us what happened.'

Before she sensed it herself, Sarah broke down completely and poured her emotions out.

* * *

Yet another miss.

Yagami High School's basketball team was having their semi-final match in the Kanto Region Tournament, where they're leading their opponent school by a close margin. It took them huge effort to have finally won the game, as their opponent missed the last second shot that could have decided the victor of the match.

After sharing some fervent exchange of encouragements, the team members walked to the changing room. One player, however, caught the eye of the managers.

'Asou, can I have a minute?' Sagano Megumi, the manager asked in a calm tone.

Being himself, the tall teenager named Asou Hiroyoshi remained at his spot without a word. He used the towel around his neck to wipe the sweats away while Sagano began lecturing him. 'Look,' she started, 'you're the captain of the team, Asou, and when the captain's own trouble bothers his performance in a team, that will be a huge problem to the team's morale.'

'I'm fine, just having bad luck today,' the seventeen-year-old replied in a perfunctory manner, which further angered the female manager. She poked his left shoulder with her index finger, her spare arm on her waist. 'I'm saying this because we've been classmates and friends for years.' Asou flinched at her voice. 'We both know very well what the source of your suck-ass performance is.' She gave a short glance at the auditorium to find a usual standing figure missing.

Beside her, the dark-blue-haired assistant manager said nothing.

'We're lucky to get into Final after such crappy performance, and if you want to win the championship that you've wanted,' she paused, '_the_ championship that we've all desperately wanted for the past years, then you better do something about it.' She stormed off, leaving him and Satsuki standing there in awkward silence.

'Damn,' he threw his towel on the floor and sat by the wall, catching his breath while trying to think straight. Satsuki looked at him, holding a chart board that recorded all data of the match, and sighed. His figure was not that terrifying if compared to any other ordinary player, but when you're talking about the ace of the whole team then it's a different story.

Satsuki wanted to say something, but she could not think of anything appropriate to talk about given this ungodly situation. This senpai in front of her was someone she respected very much, but she also loved Sarah that it was hard to figure what to say exactly to make either of them, let along both, feel better. Sarah was easier since they were close and she was easy to get along with, but Asou...after a year of knowing each other she knew very well that he was too introverted to show his feelings openly. It would be better to give him a period of time to cool down his thought, although the Final was just the day after and with his form there's no way the team would win.

As Asou rose to leave the court, Satsuki yelled, 'Asou-senpai!'

He stopped to look back at the kohai, who had been working as the assistant manager of the basketball team since her junior year started.

'Sarah-chan is a very strong girl,' Asou blinked, while Satsuki ignored his reaction, 'at least she wants to be one.'

They looked thoughtfully at each other for a whole second before parting ways.

* * *

'_Sarah-chan, you're leaving that soon?' Miki asked as they drank tea in the Tea Club Room. The blonde was packing her bag when Haruna cut in with her usual flat tone. 'Don't mind her, Miki. Our Sarah-chan has a date with her dear senpai.' Sarah blushed at the comment. 'Don't tease me like that...' her voice grew weaker as her face got redder, watching as Miki and Haruna pretended to be kissing passionately. 'Oh come here dear Sarah-chan...' 'Want to come to my house tonight?' 'I feel so lonely without you around...' Smokes evaporated from the junior nun's head as her friends started to make funny noises in her tone. Yakumo tried to stop them, and obviously failed, while Satsuki was laughing loudly at the scene._

'_Gosh...you girls...' Sarah could not find the correct word to phrase it, so she left, making a face, her cheeks boiling, while the girls cheered in behind. _

_Yet in truth, she was very excited about the date today. It was sixth-month anniversary date and she had prepared a cake for the occasion. They had agreed on meeting at the park, then watching a film together before having dinner at her place, which is an apartment she had rented near the church she'd been working part-time on. It sounded ordinary, but both of them preferred sharing a peaceful day together. It was good enough for them already._

_The sixteen-year-old checked her watch and realized that she's early for the date, so she decided to walk around first. Randomly walking into a gift shop, she froze at the sight. _

_Next to the counter, the boy she's supposed to meet was standing there. Yet what shocked her was that he was not alone. Another girl in the same school uniform, with her back facing her, pressed her face towards his, and their hands were connected._

_Sarah could only watch in horror. Of all things she could have expected out of their relationship, this was on the bottom of the list. How could such a thing happen right in front of her eyes? Asou did seem a bit distant for the past few days, but nothing seemed to have gone wrong for that part so far. Wasn't that girl from his class, the one from the Athletic Team? The one who lived near him since they were young? What had she done wrong before to cause this? How long had this been going on, on her back? Was he tired of her? Was she not doing a good job as a girlfriend? She kept asking herself questions but she knew not one single answer to any of the notions raised against herself. _

_At the same time, the pair seemed to have noticed her existence, and Asou was first to react. 'Sarah...' he began, looking frantic, like a spy being discovered his real identity, 'I can explain this...' he trailed off, trying to come up with something to convince her. The other girl looked at the junior with a surprised and...victorious glance? Sarah lost the ability to reason sensibly already._

'_You don't have to,' she spoke calmly, her head looking on the floor, 'I think the act you just did explains everything, Asou-senpai.' He flinched at the formality and grew agitated with the tense atmosphere. Suddenly, he saw Sarah stepping forward._

_He could not react at all when he felt her right hand made contact with his cheek in a loud manner. He recoiled and held his injured cheek while others in the shop watched in amusement. 'Good day, senpai-tachi,' she threw out her last words and turned around, not taking a single glance back at him. Her bangs prevented him from looking at her dark orbs._

_As she left, part of the carpet was decorated with dispersed water droplets along the way to the exit._

* * *

If one would say that she'd act like this days before, Sarah Adiemus would just laugh.

Looking at her apartment now, the word 'chaotic' could not pinpoint the situation. On that fated evening, she came back and threw anything she saw across the room, with the pillow on top of the TV and broken tableware and vases everywhere on the floor. Her books and paperwork were all over the place with not a single hint of tidiness she had previously kept for the space. Letting out a deep sigh, she put her bag on the table, fortunately still intact, and started to clean up the place.

It wasn't a big apartment, but good enough for one person to live alone. She got this place from a sister from church, who went to Europe to practice her profession. The blonde did give some time on decorating the place, but looking at the mess now she put on a bitter smile. Her life in Japan had been full of happiness so far, and she could not remember a single time, even when staying in the orphanage in England, she had been that mad and upset. She even cried herself to sleep that night, without changing her wet school uniform from the heavy rain, and reported in sick on the next day, hoping to be alone for the meantime and especially not wanting to see her upperclassmen. It would pain her to be reminded of him. And the one next to him, for that matter.

Something caught her sight when picking up the books. On the wall there lay a dark chocolate cake, spread into uneven half, with a big number '6' in cream on it. She baked the cake the night before the incident and was hoping that they'd share it together. Beside the cake was a picture hemmed with silver frame. She lay her head on his left shoulder while he put his arm around her, both of them with a crimson face. It was taken when they went to the amusement park in a neighbour city for their first date. Recalling that made her lips curve upwards. However, she knew what happened in the past stayed in the past. A broken glass could not be repaired that easily.

Sarah wondered how she was going to face him again should they meet at school. She had already missed the basketball team's match today deliberately, but there would always be a chance for them to run into each other at school. Tomorrow was Sunday, so she could just stay at her place or Yakumo's just like today. And she didn't have to attend tomorrow's basketball team final match since she's no longer the sweetheart of the team captain...

She sensed a tumbling feeling forming in her stomach, making her heart ache more than ever. She felt that her cheeks got wet again.

* * *

The court was filled with cheers from both team's supporters. It was an intensive match between the two teams aiming for glory and nothing else. Right now Yagami High was leading by 4 points, but the opponent school fought hard and managed to block many passes.

'HEY ASOU!' They could hear Suga yell furiously at his best friend, 'FOCUS ON THE MATCH!'

'Well indeed Asou still hasn't found his form back yet,' Sagano sighed while Satsuki, also sitting on the bench, looked over Asou's statistics so far. '4 out of 16 shots. That's definitely not him.'

In the spectator stand, Miki, Haruna and Yakumo were watching anxiously as the gap got reduced again. 'Asou-senpai isn't having a good match,' said Miki with a worried tone, 'and where is Sarah-chan?'

'I don't know if she'll come...' Yakumo whispered. She had called her best friend this morning but she did not manage to get a definite answer.

'_Will you still come, Sarah? I mean, I know you are still feeling down now...'_

'_Arigato Yakumo,' she could hear the recipent's voice seemed to be less melancholy than previous days, 'but I haven't made up my mind yet.'_

'_Satsuki said Asou-senpai was bothered by...that incident,' the younger Tsukamoto sister heard a gulp from the other person, 'he also told Satsuki that he wanted to explain things to you, but you keep avoiding him so he did not have a chance to do so...'_

'_Did he?' Yakumo could not decipher whether Sarah just sounded more hopeful or not. After a short pause of silence, Sarah went on, 'Yakumo, I have duties at church now. I need to go.' The girl with crimson eyes gasped._

'_Then what about the match...'_

'_God will make his arrangement, Yakumo.' Somehow, she wasn't entirely convinced. 'God will.' Then she hung up the phone._

'Hey, isn't that girl who was dating that third-year Asou?' The sitting trio could start to hear people talking about their friend. It was quite a bother to them all before, as it was not common for an upperclassman to date his kohai. It was rumoured they're the only couple with that weird one-year gap between them in the whole school. 'No wonder they become everyone's teatime topic...' Yakumo thought sadly. If not for both of their popularities in their respective form, Yakumo believed the rumours would have been worse.

Haruna looked around the audience, in attempt to find the girl others were talking about, and spotted a familiar figure. 'Oh, Sarah-chan is there.' The others turned to their eight-o'clock direction and found the same person.

She was in her school uniform, much like other supporters from their school today. Holding her bag tightly with her hands, they could see her watching the match with cold expression but warm eyes. Yet whenever Asou made an attempt to shoot, they could see her mumbling something incoherent, and when the ball was in she let out a breath of relief.

'Sarah-san,' she heard someone calling her and turned to her left, only to find a pair of oceanic blue eyes gazing patiently at her. She froze.

There was no way she could have forgotten that black long hair of the girl talking to her now.

'Akiyama-senpai,' she greeted with a nod. The senior girl gave a small smile in response. 'I'm glad you come, Sarah-san,' she turned her attention back to the match, 'I've been wanting to explain things to you, but I never got to find you in school during the past two days.'

Of course, Sarah thought, she had skipped one day and stayed mostly in the Tea Club Room on the other, when she revealed the news to her friends. Besides, they weren't even in the same school. Akiyama was studying in a local female-only senior high, although she studied in the same primary school and junior high as Asou did. 'I see,' she stated coldly, not interested in continuing this conversation. It took her sufficient courage to tell her closest friends about it, and sharing inner feelings with a stranger, or more precisely an enemy, was not in her agenda today.

The long-haired girl gave out a sigh. 'It doesn't matter if you believe in me or not,' she paused to study her face, 'but please do believe in him.'

There were only five more minutes left and now the score was even. Both teams were focusing more on defence and this gave Asou, as the main offence player, more trouble. He knew he wasn't in good form, and he knew why. Partly it was due to the pressure overwhelming him, as the captain who led the team to fight for championship for the first time in years, and partly because of a certain girl with blonde hair done up in a bun.

'And why should I?' Sarah argued.

Akiyama smirked and took out a small box from her pocket. 'Take a look inside,' she said softly. The Brit looked at it for a moment before reaching out her hand to grab the box. Slowly, she opened it and gasped.

He wanted to see her, to hold her and to explain everything to her. He wanted to tell her how he treasured every moment they spent together, and how he enjoyed it when they shared secret kisses in school. Images of her walking pose, her laugh and her warm stare filled his brain's capacity. He had been keeping all these feelings to himself these days and this had given him much trouble focusing on the orange sphere.

'This is...'

'There is,' she turned, 'a baka who wanted to give something to a special one,' and started to walk away in steady pace, 'but he had no idea what to give for a special occasion, so he asked a friend, a childhood neighbour, to give him some idea.'

'After advising him to choose the gift, the girl pecked his nose just to make fun of him in order to laugh at his embarrassed face. However, after that, he got slapped, rather cruelly, by another girl.' Sarah just looked at her, stunned. Akiyama gave out a long sigh and looked back at the blonde. 'I've known that idiot for ten years. Trust me, if I have feelings for him and I haven't confessed yet after so long, then I'm the stupid one.' Her oceanic blue eyes pierced into the junior nun's dark orbs. 'You're a cute yet mature girl. Please take good care of this moronic neighbour and friend of mine.' She bowed and walked off.

'Oh, and did Asou mention this to you?' She winked at the kohai. 'I'm not interested in boys, quite the opposite in fact.'

When the words finally sank in, Sarah paled.

* * *

As his teammate passed the ball to him, he found a hole in the opponent's defence and, using all his strength, he dribbled past the guy in a dash and was hoping to get a layup. Yet in front of him was the tall centre forward that he had been having trouble over the whole match, and he slammed him down with his hand hitting his, causing him to lose his balance and fell onto the ground. Asou was not fast enough to react in mere second and fell with his foot first, then his shoulder and his head also received a shook.

The cheering team members went silent. The girls horrifically held their breath in hopes of seeing the star player stand up at ease, but he didn't. Dazzlingly, he put one hand on his sprained ankle and the other on his head, moaning in pain. The referee blew his whistle and came to check on him, asking the players to carry him to the sideline to receive treatment first. Sagano came rapidly and removed his shoe, taking notice of his swollen foot.

In the stand, the trio gasped in horror, taking a while to fully register the event in front of their eyelids. While worrying over their senpai's condition and the team's morale, they turned to look for the girl that they worried the most of, only to find her missing from her original spot.

'Where's Sarah?' They though in unison.

Back to the court, Satsuki was taking the first-aid kit over, quickly preparing an ice pack and was about to put it over Asou's twisted part when a hand stopped her.

'What in the–' she never finished that phrase when she looked into a pair of determined dark orbs. In a mutual soundless conversation, she nodded and obligingly handed over the ice bag. When Sagano noticed the approaching person, she stared at her for a brief second before deciding that it might be best for her to step back.

'You have one minute.' The figure murmured her gratitude.

Asou was still in a state of confusion with all that just happened. With his eyes closed, He could remember being pushed down by his opponent, sent to the sideline and got substituted for the time being. The coach was yelling his instructions to the reserve player and Sagano and Satsuki were treating his ankle, feeling the coldness on his foot. He didn't like it at all, the feeling of getting injured in late period of the most important match he'd ever had. To make things worse, he wasn't giving his best mentally.

'Relax,' he heard Satsuki say. He froze. That could not be Satsuki or Sagano's voice. He reckoned that frequency. He opened his eyes quickly and, from his lying position, he could see her concerned frown. 'Relax,' she repeated in a softer tone, yet graveness was heard in the word. Remaining in a surprised state, he simply stared, blankly, at her wrapping a bandage around his foot. He was at loss of words.

'Why?' He managed to blurt only that word out. Sarah responded with a small smile. Having known him for a long time, she knew he wasn't that good with expressing himself with alphabets. Merely, she raised her hand to show him. He raised his eyebrows.

'Akiyama-senpai explained everything...' she trailed off, lowering her head, afraid of looking at him in the eyes. 'Gomen, Hiroyoshi-kun,' she began, 'I shouldn't have acted like that...not trusting you and,' she glimpsed at his cheek, 'hurting you...without thinking thoroughly and clearly about it...' She took an uneasy gulp. Displays of possible future events were running in her mind frantically, which frightened her.

Without a word, the healer felt being pulled by a formidable force. Blinking her dark eyes, she found her forehead making contact with a warm surface. Resting himself on her, he felt relief for the first time in days. Gone was the emotional turmoil he had been suffering from.

A sensible person she was, she understood immediately and finished tightening the knot. 'Is there still pain?' She whispered.

He withdrew and looked deeply into her eyes, exploring her mind. 'No,' he hummed, 'not at all.'

'Asou!' their moment was interrupted pointedly by their friend. 'One minute left and we're even now! Are you in or not?'

Looking at the scoreboard, the team captain rose to stand on his feet. Feeling the pain had gone temporarily, he decided one minute would be good enough. Turning to the girl who also got on her feet and was dusting her skirt, he was hoping to find an appropriate word to say. Instead, she initiated and nodded determinedly at him. The two looked at each other for a still second before Asou started running towards the court.

In the stand, Haruna, Miki and Yakumo watched in utter surprise. Finding their close friend missing was one, and seeing her by the court was another. Yet all of them couldn't help but smile when they saw what happened afterwards. Yakumo, in particular, was so happy that her best friend finally got over her trouble.

They couldn't remember clearly on how the remaining minute progressed. They would soon forget how the crowd held their breath when a last-second shot was made, the uproar of their schoolmates when they won by one point, and seeing the shooter being thrown to mid-air by his teammates. All they could recall was staying in the auditorium, long after the match had ended, to see a certain blonde resting her head on the player's shoulder on the sideline of the court, accompanied by the reddish-yellow light penetrating through the windows. Their fingers were locked.

* * *

-_The End-_

* * *

Forgive me for the rushed ending. I have a hard time figuring on how exactly to end it, and seemingly that having not written a fanfic in a long while lowered my ability in creating a more complete plot.

Please read and review, and let me know if there's anything that you feel I could have done a better job. I may not have time to write another fanfic/continue on my previous stories soon, but I will definitely try to squeeze some time out. Until next time.


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